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Show I T jjlj I Villa Slips Through Cordon of American - and Garranza Troops; Long Chase Ahead 1 J -..- , illll li f PERSHING HAS BEEN USING MEXICAN RAILROAD INSOUTH FOR TEN DAYS Jine Used Daily Between Casas Grandes for Transporting Troops and Supplies Twelve U. S. Soldiers Injured in Wreck Near Musica Station, One Dies of Injuries Eight New Aeroplanes to Be Sent Immediately to Front Horses Being Bought and Sent to Pershing American Citizens and i Germans Accused of Aiding Villa in Getting Supplies. i I San Antonio, Texas, March 30. Fighting three days ago 1 between Villa troops and a detachment of Carranga's forces i near Guerrero was reported today by General Pershing to General Gen-eral Funston. No details of the engagement were given, but General Pershing said Villa's men were moving south. It was believed Villa was with them. Columbus, N. M., March 30. American Amer-ican troops have been using the Mex-1 Mex-1 Ico Northwestern railway Jor a dls-l dls-l tance of about 140 miles between Cacas Grandes and Madeira daily for I about ten days to transport troops and supplies, according to Walter Warren, a negVo trooper In troop A., Tenth cavalry, who reached here today. to-day. Warren who has been Invalided at Fort Bliss, asserted that twelve men were Injured In the wreck on the road near Musica station, March 21 which f resulted In the death of Trooper Hud-nell. Hud-nell. Warren suffered crushed hips and internal Injuries. The train he said was carrying several cars loaded with horses and troops and was wrecked on a "shoo fly." Warren said that the other ten Injured men : )' are being cared for at the field hospital hos-pital at Casas Grandes. " "Washington, March 35. Immediate purchase of eight aeroplanes to be sent at onceto Brigadier-General i Pershing, w,as authorized today by the war department A special corps of signal oftlcers has been organized here to inspect and teBt the machines. The board i will be composed of Captain Vlrginlus ' E. Clark, head of the department of ' motors of the aviation school at San I Diego, Cal., Lieutenant Thomas de W. Milling, head instructor at the San Diego school, "who nre now en route here from the Pacific and Lieutenant B. Q. Jones of the signal corpB. Reports from Major-General Fuu-ston Fuu-ston lay stress upon the need of more flyers with the advanco columns in I Mexico. Of the eight machines which I accompanied the expedition two have heen destroyed and' four others have ' been temporarily disabled, leaving only two in service. Portable Machine Shop to Be Sent. j A portable machine shop to repair damaged aeroplanes on the field has been sent Into Mexico. 'i More horses are also to be sent to General Pershing. Several hundred . are being bought in California and an j estimate for 200 more has been sent to congress. Every cavalry horse In j '. the army at remount stations has j been sent to the border. Americano Supplying Villa. 5 r Department of Justice agents, fol-') fol-') lowing a trail which is said to lead ,, I to American sources of supply for Vll-3! Vll-3! la, have uncovered evidence In New York and other cities which, they be-a be-a Neve when fully developed will fully Justify the charge. M The allegation often made that Vil-:sk Vil-:sk la has received aid from German Jl' sources also Is being Investigated but sJ no statement has been made as to VW "whether any evidence has been 'ound. The denartment is disinclined to J act on Its evidence that American m . money and supplies have gone to 1 Villa while It Is in the stage that af "Mil involve only subordinates, it ! intends to pursue the trail, if possible, to the men higher up. Thirty Days Supplies. Major Elliott said he has already shipped from El Paso supplies Buffi-dent Buffi-dent to feed the expeditionary forces for-ces in Mexico for thirty days. Part ol theBe supplies already is at Casas Grandes, part is Hearing the field base and the remainder will be there before long, the major said. Merchants of El Paso and. its vicinity vi-cinity are besieging the army for con-' con-' bacts. Thoy offer to ship unlimited supplies south, the government to as-J as-J Mirae the risk. To all of them Major ill Elliott replies that they arc free to , II transport stuff to Casas Grandes, butj ""in do bo at their own riBK j."j are told however, that the field quar- : termaater will probably purchase li ElJch goods if thoy reach their destl- Jl nation. m Bell Confers With Garcia. M El Paso, Texas, March 30. General 111 11, General Gavira and Mexican n Conaul Garcia held av conference in f J the Mexican consulate today relative ll to the movement ot supplies.over the II Mexican Northwestern railway. -M- JMi toward General Bell refused to ais- I ss the conference saying he was iflr er-orders to maintain secrecy. 4 .,1 Paao. Texas, March 30. Briga- m JMleneral John J. Pershing bos pro- m W6a an relentleBS campaign in the Qit for Francisco Villa a chaso that M, may last for many weeks before the fleeing bandit Is run to earth. This Information was gleaned here today from military men who made no secret se-cret of their belief that Villa had slipped through the cordon of Car-rnnzistn Car-rnnzistn and American troops. American officials said today they had no news as to the whereabouts of Villa but that the troops of te de facto government were aiding the American soldiers in trying to round up thp brigand. The last of tho information in-formation was that Villa was moving through the Santa Maria valley. Once among his peon friends who would give the American troops misleading information regarding his whereabouts, wherea-bouts, Villa might escape detection for a long time. Danger of Betrayal. Ranchers from the Chihuahua district dis-trict said that when it became known that there was price upon Villa's head dead or alive, the bandit would be In constant danger of betrayal. Whether the American troops have made It known that there is a reward for Villa Vil-la has been not learned here, but It is assumed that the word has been spread about among tho peon popu-loMrm popu-loMrm nc thn Amprimn soldiers move about from place to place. Roving bands of Villlstas are reported re-ported everywhere in the region ot the Santa Maria valley but apparently apparent-ly the American flying columns have not come In contact with them. General Bell Awaits Orders. Brigadier-General George J. BelL Jr., commander of the troops at Fort Bliss, awaited today orders to ship supplies to Mexico over the Mexico Northwestern railway. Supplies consisting con-sisting of gasolene, forage, canned goods and flour will go forward as soon as tho orders are received. Meanwhile Major Elliott, department depart-ment quartermaster, Is moving supplies sup-plies In great bulk to Columbus, N. M. where they are carried In truck trains over the Mexican desert to the army base below Casas Grandes. Ten carloads were shipped to Columbus early today while ten motor trucks were also sent to the army base there. Twenty-seven more motor trucks will go forward late today to Columbus. Columbus to Continue a3 Base. Army officers hero believe that Columbus Co-lumbus will be continued as an aux-lllsry aux-lllsry base for the army in Mexico. They point out that no great reliance can be placed on the Mexican Northwestern North-western railway as a sole line of communication because of its physical condition and lack of ability to carry heavv tralnloads of supplies. Three companies of the engineers department are working to keep the rond leading south from Columbus to the army base In Mexico in good con-' dltlon. x , . ., The first supplies w db uem. rail to General Pershing's columns are expected to be forwarded today from Juarez following the permission granted by General Carranza for the uso of tho Northwestern railroad. Army Officials Disappointed. While army officials hero did not conceal their disappointment over the first chief's refusal to permit full tralnloads to enter Mexico under jAmerlcan military guard they were visibly relieved at the prospect ol using the railroad in even n limited Thero has been no question hero for some time that the transportation transporta-tion problem was one of the most serious seri-ous faced by General Funston. Stories of Soldiers. ' The stories of soldiers returning !from the front taken in conjunction i ...ii. t-hn, minxdert admissions by tho military authorities, confirmed the belief be-lief that the motor truck system had Tiroven inadequate and that some better bet-ter way of provisioning General Pershing's forces must be found very qUAnxfety is now mainly centered on what can be hoped for from tho limited lim-ited and rather dilapidated equipment equip-ment of tho Mexico Northwestorn railroad. For some time a schedule of only one train In two days has been maintained between Juarez and Casas Grandes. The distance Is 1G8 miles and tho trip Is made In any thing from 12 to 20 hours. A heavilj loaded freight train is expected to take longer than this. ... 1 One important question upon which . the army officials here are very anx ious to obtain some light Is exactly what interpretation will be placed by the Mexican officials on General Car-ranza's Car-ranza's Instructions that supplies must bo shipped In the ordinary manner man-ner as commercial freight. If this Is to mean that freight will only be forwarded on the regular trains the amount of supplies to reach General Pershing's base will be very small. Interest In Chase Revised. While the railroad situation has temporarily overshadowed the actual pursuit of Villa, interest In the chase was revived today by reports that Instead of being far to the south, as was generally supposed, he was still hovering In the region around Naml-qulpa. Naml-qulpa. The last word from the front was the statement by Colonel Dodd that four days previously, Villa was reported report-ed In the Santa Maria Valley, moving mov-ing toward Santa Caterina. No town of the name of Santa Caterina appears ap-pears on any available maps of Chihuahua Chi-huahua but there Is a Terrazas ranch of that name, some miles east of El Valle, one of the temporary bases of tho American expedition. This report re-port considerably mystified American observers here as It would locate Villa some forty miles northeast of Namiqulpa instead of twice that distance dis-tance to the south, where all previous previ-ous reports have placed him. llt-i niiiw!nn Purciiri; T Ilia W.VHHllia fc-.ww.w. The explanation which is generally acoepted here is that Villa has adopted adopt-ed a time honored plan of deceiving his pursuers. He Is believed to have scattered his forces Into several different dif-ferent bands. Each band travels in n different direction, dispensing the Information that the chief fugitive Is with It. As the majority of the peons are believed to be In sympathy with Villa, false information is probably the most bountiful article supplied to the American pursuers. In the absence of any definite in-formation, in-formation, there is little room left for anything but speculation but Americans Amer-icans here who are not only well acquainted ac-quainted with Mexico but know Villa himself and his habits of mind, are unshaken in their conviction that he is In full flight to the southeast. They point out that the district around Parral Is the logical -place for him to make to, as he has thousands of sympathizers there and the constitutionalist con-stitutionalist government is almost without authority except in the heavily heavi-ly garrisoned towns. Persistent Calm In Chihuahua. The persistent calm which has reigned over northern Chihuahua for the last two weekB has created a feeling feel-ing of optimism In some circles here, which is strongly In contrast with the pessimism which was general when the American flag was first carried over the border. While it Is felt that the crisis la still far from past, many Americans who left Mexico after tho raid on Columbus aro returning to thPir old homes satisfied that no se rious outbreak against foreigners is on the horizon. New Diaz Revolution. Washington, March. 30. Advic-es on the nature and extent of tho new revolutionary movement said to be led by Felix Diaz In southern Mexico continue to conflict as to facts. Diplomatic Dip-lomatic dispatches today from European Euro-pean legations In the Mexican capital capi-tal said the movement ltd by Diaz himself was assuming formidable proportions pro-portions and was distinctly anti-American. On the other hand government investigators have reported they had good reason to believe Felix Diaz Is not In Mexico at all but hiding in tho United States, probably In New Orleans. Or-leans. Vague Reports of Clash. Columbus, N. M March 30. No reports re-ports of any sort were received at the army base here today from the American army in Mexico. There was a vague report In Columbus that Carranza's troops and Villa's band had clashed at Santa. Tomas, but Major Ma-jor Sample, commanding the army base, said he had heard nothing regarding re-garding it. |